Is Sussex County, VA in a flood zone?
FEMA's National Risk Index puts Sussex County's flood hazard at the 17.3th percentile nationally — among the lowest flood hazard in the country — driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about once every 2 years. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Sussex County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Sussex County's mapped high-risk flood zone (the Special Flood Hazard Area, or SFHA) are legally required to carry an NFIP flood policy. In practice, 16% of them do — 33 active policies against 206 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Sussex County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.8% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
How Sussex County compares nationally
Sussex County sits at rank 2635 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 2361 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). Sussex County, Virginia is home to about 10,753 people across 490.244 square miles of land.
Your street may differ from Sussex County's average
37 of Sussex County's 4,712 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Sussex County's numbers. The guide to what the Special Flood Hazard Area actually means explains why the mandatory-insurance rule exists and who it applies to.